To solve for rising IT costs, IT and finance leaders collaborate to scrutinize technology spend and ensure budgetary and business goals are met

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support, products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software, and a Salesforce and AWS partner, today announced the findings of the Censuswide survey, “C-suite Imperatives: Evolving IT and Enterprise Investments.” The Rimini Street-sponsored research was conducted among nearly 3,000 CFOs and CIOs around the globe, examining the relationship between the key business leaders, and the drivers behind their technology investments and decisions.

The analysis of the data revealed that as IT costs and spend continue to rise, CFOs are increasing their influence over IT. Budgetary considerations and demand for results require CIOs to deliver strong ROI from selected technology investments. CIOs that work in close partnership with their CFO counterpart can help drive profitable results for the business by prioritizing projects that support the company’s financial and growth goals.

Key Finding #1: The CFO and CIO partnership continues to strengthen

86% of CFOs and CIOs say their relationship has strengthened.

CFOs are taking a more prominent role in the decision-making of IT investments. The data shows 72% of CFO survey respondents say they take the lead in setting technology budget levels, and nearly 41% of CIO respondents state that their CFO counterparts make the underlying technology decisions.

The deepening collaboration and shared accountability between the two groups can lead to greater profitability for the business, with 49% of CFO respondents sharing that they believe the positive CFO/CIO relationship was the reason for improved business outcomes.

“Working closely with the CFO in strategic alignment and in the early stages of planning helps technology teams make smart decisions that are in line with both the corporate vision and budgetary goals for the business,” said Rimini Street CIO, Gertrude Van Horn. “It’s the partnership that drives favorable outcomes for the company, and we lean heavily into this relationship to ensure we are identifying ways to achieve greater profitability while freeing funds for innovation.”

Key Finding #2: CIOs are focused on solving for rising IT costs

CIOs are tackling rising IT costs with investments in emerging tech (44%) and by outsourcing application support (36%).

CIOs are investing heavily in AI to address rising IT costs. A combined 87% of CIOs agree that historical data is the secret sauce to maximizing the value of their AI projects for ERP, but a staggering 94% state that their data needs substantial or moderate clean-up in order to succeed with AI.

Another area of budgetary focus for CIOs is to improve cost predictability. By outsourcing IT services, which can help solve for the loss of IT talent and staff, CIOs report the benefits include support of application customizations (33%), broader service and support solutions (33%), better quality of service and support (32%) and faster resolutions (30%). And 26% say they were able to lower costs.

Key Finding #3: Not all technology initiatives are delivering value for the business

ERP upgrades or migrations (23%) delivered the least amount of value for CFOs.

While security (28%), emerging technologies such as AI, business intelligence and data analytics (27%), and customer-facing SaaS technologies (27%) rounded out the top three spots for technology investments considered highest in value for the business, ERP upgrades or migrations failed to show the same level of enthusiasm from the CFOs surveyed.

Only 20% of surveyed CFOs state that they are happy with the results of their technology investments. They often experience a negative impact, such as increased ongoing costs, limited future flexibility, or organizational/business disruption. Because of this, CIOs must consider both the short- and long-term impact of their technology strategy.

“Thousands of clients of Rimini Street who have taken the lead in maximizing the value of their substantial ERP investments also benefit from the flexibility and freedom to innovate with best-fit solutions for their needs, on their own timeline,” said Rimini Street CFO, Michael Perica. “It’s not just about the $8B we’ve saved our clients to date, we’ve helped them reallocate their people, time and money towards strategic initiatives and innovations that accelerate growth profitability for the business.”

Access the full, comprehensive report, “C-suite Imperatives: Evolving IT and Enterprise Investments,” here.

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a Russell 2000® Company, is a global provider of end-to-end enterprise software support, products and services, the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software and a Salesforce and AWS partner. The Company has operations globally and offers a comprehensive family of unified solutions to run, manage, support, customize, configure, connect, protect, monitor, and optimize enterprise application, database, and technology software, and enables clients to achieve better business outcomes, significantly reduce costs and reallocate resources for innovation. To date, over 5,500 Fortune 500, Fortune Global 100, midmarket, public sector, and other organizations from a broad range of industries have relied on Rimini Street as their trusted enterprise software solutions provider. To learn more, please visit riministreet.com, and connect with Rimini Street on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. (IR-RMNI)

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this communication are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “currently,” “estimate,” “expect,” “future,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “outlook,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seem,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would” or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our expectations of future events, future opportunities, global expansion and other growth initiatives and our investments in such initiatives. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance, nor are these statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Rimini Street’s business, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, adverse developments in and costs associated with defending pending litigation or any new litigation, including the disposition of pending motions to appeal and any new claims; additional expenses to be incurred in order to comply with injunctions against certain of our business practices and the impact on future period revenue and costs; changes in the business environment in which Rimini Street operates, including the impact of any recessionary economic trends and changes in foreign exchange rates, as well as general financial, economic, regulatory and political conditions affecting the industry in which we operate and the industries in which our clients operate; the evolution of the enterprise software management and support landscape and our ability to attract and retain clients and further penetrate our client base; significant competition in the software support services industry; customer adoption of our expanded portfolio of products and services and products and services we expect to introduce; our ability to sustain or achieve revenue growth or profitability, manage our cost of revenue and accurately forecast revenue; estimates of our total addressable market and expectations of client savings relative to use of other providers; variability of timing in our sales cycle; risks relating to retention rates, including our ability to accurately predict retention rates; the loss of one or more members of our management team; our ability to attract and retain additional qualified personnel, including sales personnel, and retain key personnel; challenges of managing growth profitably; our need and ability to raise additional equity or debt financing on favorable terms and our ability to generate cash flows from operations to help fund increased investment in our growth; risks associated with global operations; our ability to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology systems and other cybersecurity threats, protect the confidential information of our employees and clients and comply with privacy regulations; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting; our ability to maintain, protect and enhance our brand and intellectual property; changes in laws and regulations, including changes in tax laws or unfavorable outcomes of tax positions we take, or a failure by us to establish adequate tax reserves; the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters; our credit facility’s ongoing debt service obligations and financial and operational covenants on our business and related interest rate risk, including uncertainty from the transition to SOFR or other interest rate benchmarks; the sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents to meet our liquidity requirements; the amount and timing of repurchases, if any, under our stock repurchase program and our ability to enhance stockholder value through such program; uncertainty as to the long-term value of Rimini Street’s equity securities; catastrophic events that disrupt our business or that of our clients; and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rimini Street’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 2, 2024, and as updated from time to time by Rimini Street’s future Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings by Rimini Street with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Rimini Street’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Rimini Street anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Rimini Street’s assessments to change. However, while Rimini Street may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Rimini Street specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Rimini Street’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication.

© 2024 Rimini Street, Inc. All rights reserved. “Rimini Street” is a registered trademark of Rimini Street, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Rimini Street, the Rimini Street logo, and combinations thereof, and other marks marked by TM are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners, and unless otherwise specified, Rimini Street claims no affiliation, endorsement, or association with any such trademark holder or other companies referenced herein.